Choices
by bugsandbeauty
Summary: It's not about fate or what is right or wrong. Life is ultimately about the choices we make. A GSR story. Very anti-Catherine.
1. Default Chapter

Choices  
  
By Bugs & Beauty  
  
Admin@shipper-love.net  
  
AN: I was eating Wendys when the idea for this popped into my head. (Go fast food!) This takes place during the 3rd season. Despite how this starts out, this is a Grissom/Sara romance story. Gotta have the pain before you get the dessert. Also all of my stories are now archived at http://www.shipper-love.net.  
  
Chapter One  
  
  
  
Catherine had pulled into the spot just an hour after they processed a crime scene. Grissom had been silent through-out the investigation. Even his usual intellectual barbs were missing. She had to do something so she stopped at this out of the way place. She ordered a coffee and some eggs. He had simply ordered a coffee.   
  
"I told her I did not know what to do about it." Gil Grissom, Head CSI of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, sat back in the booth. Across from him, Catherine Willows sipped her coffee. The blonde investigator was done up very well for an out of the way cafe. Most of the occupants were truckers, painters and locals.   
  
She shook her head. "You will ruin your career over her." She reached over the table. "I know you think you love her but this will pass. Sara gets emotional and she is not exactly stable." Grissom pulled his hand away from her. Catherine held up her hand. "Look, I know how you feel. But you saw what happened with Hank. You see how she teases Greg and even Nick."  
  
The older CSI gave her a confused look. "What do you mean about Hank? I thought he cheated on her..." His voice trailed off as the other woman frowned at him. "I'm sure she told you that Gil but it's simply not true." Catherine made a show of looking troubled by what she was going to tell him. "Look," she trailed her words off before sighing to herself-loudly.   
  
"What?" His eyes were clouded with the same self doubt Catherine knew so well.   
  
"She's...She did the whole Hank thing to make someone jealous."  
  
Grissom perked up. "So what's the problem? She wanted me to be jealous and frankly I was...a bit."  
  
Catherine gulped the last of her coffee down. "Not you. Greg." She threw some bills down on the table and got up. "Ready to go?"  
  
He was not about to leave the conversation. "Greg? She hardly pays attention to him." He stopped Catherine as soon as they left the cafe. "What are you talking about with Greg?" His breaths puffed hard from his chest.   
  
"He is cute, like a younger version of yourself really." Catherine replied to him in a dismissive tone. She riffled through her purse supposedly looking for her car keys but she could see the sag in his shoulders.  
  
"Like...me?" The pain was evident in his voice. Catherine almost felt sorry for what she was doing-almost. She allowed him to think about the situation. His Sara with a much younger man. A man in good health who cracked jokes that made her smile. Who treated her with respect. Who never told her no.  
  
All Grissom had given her was a world of no. No to her empathy with others. No, to her need to work extra hard on cases. No to her need for HIS support. No to her dinner date.   
  
Catherine started up the car. She shifted gears and soon they were racing towards Vegas along the almost deserted highway. She placed her hand on his knee. "Hey look at least this way you won't have to worry about her rejection." She saw him flinch. "You can put her behind you and concentrate on finding someone who is a real woman." Grissom only turned his body away from her.  
  
Sara worked with Warrick and Greg on detailing the two cars that had come in earlier to the lab. Nick had gone home earlier in the day complaining about his fever. At that moment, Greg was doing his Mario Andretti impression in the Porsche.  
  
"Vrooooom! Vroooom!" The spiky haired man made a show of downshifting his gears and swerving around imaginary cars. He threw his hands in the air.   
  
"And he wins the Daytona 500 for the seventh time in a row." He turned and bowed to his left and right. "Greg Sanders, Race car Champion and Hero to young boys everywhere." He stepped out of the car. Warrick was sitting on the floor inspecting the tires of the second car when Greg strutted up to him and made a show of giving him an autograph. For his part, Warrick pretended to be stunned and clutched the paper to his chest. Sara burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she dropped her wrench on the ground.   
  
Greg walked over to her side of the car. "Sorry Lady Sara." He bowed deeply and reached for the wrench. However Sara also reached for the wrench and they hit their heads. Warrick disintegrated into a full blown belly laugh.  
  
It was this scene that Grissom and Catherine saw when they arrived to the room. Sara straightened herself up and held out a hand to Greg. The smile from her face fell when she caught the extremely furious look on Grissom's face.   
  
"Sidle, Sanders!" The booming voice that erupted from him shook everyone. Sara's mouth dropped wide open. "Stop wasting my time." He directed his attention to Greg. "Get in the lab and process the samples I left."" Greg barely even nodded before running past Grissom. Warrick turned his attention back to the car. Sara would not be so quiet.  
  
"What is going on Grissom?" She wiped her hand on a rag. "We were all working this case-like YOU told us to before you left."   
  
Grissom turned to face her fully. "Yes, I wanted you to work the case, not work Greg." He pushed Archie out of the way as he left the room. Sara's face burned with embarrassment. She shot past Catherine to follow her supervisor.   
  
Sara slammed the door to his office shut so hard the blinds fell off the tiny window. "What the hell was that about?" She threw up her hands. "I am sick of you doing this to me?"  
  
"Sick of you?" He remained seated and gave her a bored look. "I am not the office tease here Sara." The coolness of his voice was a slap to her pride.  
  
"I was not...doing that with Greg. How could you say that to me?" She turned her head down so he could not see the tears welling up in her eyes. "You treat me badly."  
  
"Sara, that is not true." He dropped the file. Sara peeked through the strands of her hair. The prideful and even cruel man turned into a defeated lump. Her mouth opened then shut several times.   
  
"Why?" She took a step closer to him.  
  
There was a mumbled reply from the heap that used to be Gil Grissom. Sara walked around to look at him. The breath sucked back into her throat. The man she accused of not having emotion sat in his chair. There was a single trail of tears going down his face. The brunette fell to her knees and cupped his face with one of her hands, leaving a smear of oil on his cheek. "Talk to me-please."  
  
TBC....Mwahahahahha! 


	2. Chapter Two

Choices  
  
by Bugs & Beauty  
  
AN: Sorry about Chapter Two being so late. The Holidays have been very, very busy.  
  
Grissom looked up at her. "What do you want me to say?" His hands reached up to cup her face. "I don't blame you Sara. I meant it when I said you deserved a life."  
  
Sara's brown eyes tightened in confusion. "What does this have to do with Greg..?" Her voice trailed off. "You...you think that there is something..."  
  
Gil nodded his head. He kept his eyes down even as his fingers traced patterns on her cheeks. "He's more your age. I know he makes you laugh." He looked up at her. "I am glad he makes you happy. I just..."  
  
The brunette leaned forward, allowing his hands and arms to encircled her shoulders. "Just what?" A trace of anger was evident in her tone. "I can make up my mind about who I love. You may be my boss at work but you are not my boss in my personal life. I thought even you could not be this dense."  
  
He looked up at her. "What do you mean?"  
  
She took his face in her hands now. She could feel his fingertips caress her shoulders. "I choose you." A smile breached her face. "I always have chosen you. I did not leave a good career in San Francisco to play second fiddle here for my career. I did it for you. It's always been about you."  
  
He shifted in his seat. "What about Hank?"  
  
"What about him? Griss-" She took her hands away from him. He could see the frustration on her face as she sat back on her heels. "Just because I seem immune to the way men treat me does not mean I don't want to feel..." she stopped helplessly. "I want to feel needed. Not just on the case as a CSI but as a woman. You ignored me. Hank did not."  
  
He let out a snort of disgust. "You deserved better."  
  
"Yes I do and you saw how that worked out. What I don't understand is how you could think there was something between Greg and me." She waited for him to respond to her but he shook his shoulders.  
  
Sara threw her hands up in the air. As she rose to her feet, she tucked her hair behind her ears. "I need for you to do more than you are doing right now." She paced the small office. "I told you how I felt about you. You need to tell me what you want from me? You either flirt with me or you treat me like some rookie beneath your notice."  
  
"I don't-"  
  
She cut him off. "You do." She saw him sit back in his seat with a disturbed look on his face. "Just talk to me."  
  
He spread his hands. "It's complicated, Sara. I want..." he sighed loudly. "I want to be more to you than a friend."  
  
Sara waited for more but he lapsed into silence. "How much more?"  
  
He opened his mouth to speak but he realized he did not know. "I...I want things to be better. I don't want to hurt you. I want what is best for you." He looked at her. "I'm not what's best for you Sara."  
  
She took a step forward. Her palms laid flat on his desk. "You can't decide for me Grissom." She stepped back. "If you don't want me, fine. Tell me. But don't tell me that you won't at least try because you think that somewhere down the line I will decide to get someone else. That's not fair. Not fair to me or you or any relationship we will have together."  
  
He raised his head. "Okay, this is what I want..."  
  
Warrick raised his eyes to Catherine. "You said what to him?" The wrench that was being cleaned laid still in the cloth. Catherine shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Look, you and I both know that anything that happens between them will ruin this unit." She took the wrench from him and placed it into the box.   
  
"You don't know that."  
  
"Yes I do. It's hard enough for any of us to have a relationship outside of work. What happens when they stop seeing each other?"   
  
"He rested his hands on her shoulders. "You don't know they won't get married Cat. It's not our place to interfere with their lives. How would they feel if they knew what you did to them?"  
  
She pushed him away slightly. "They can't get it together now and they are not dating. You know Eckley will be all over them as soon as it makes the rounds. Gil will be lucky if he has a job let alone a supervisor's position. He should not throw his career away for her. She does not belong here."  
  
Warrick's eyes blinked in confusion. "Sara has been here for four years. I think she belongs." He walked in front of her as she turned away from him. "What is this really about Catherine?"  
  
"Sara has done nothing but tear this team apart. When she came here to investigate you, she almost got you fired. Not once but twice. She messed up the investigation with Eddie and you saw what she does to Grissom. She has Greg and Nick drooling over her." The blonde started pacing in the room. "She may be a good CSI some of the time but she jeopardizes cases with her personal feelings."  
  
Warrick sighed and shrugged his head. "But it's still none of our business."  
  
Catherine gave him a cold look. "It is if they start dating. The rules are specific in that area."  
  
They stood there facing each other. Neither spoke.  
  
TBC 


End file.
